Markets continue to trade southward; Sensex breaches 23,500 mark

Indian equity benchmarks continue to trade southward in noon deals with frontline gauges tumbling below their crucial 23,500 (Sensex) and 7,150 (Nifty) levels on sustained selling by funds and retail investors amid weak Asian cues. The sentiment mainly dented after US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen in a testimony to Congress stated that global economic turmoil and massive sell-off in global equity markets could spook the US economy. Sentiments also weighed down after rupee breached the 68-mark as it fell by 18 paise against the greenback as demand for dollar from banks and importers gathered pace amid bearish local equities.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red at this point of time as investors weighed a warning from Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen that global financial market turbulence could hurt US growth. Closer home, selling was both brutal and wide-based as none of sectoral indices, barring telecom, on BSE were spared. Counters, which featured in the list of worst performers, include metal, FMCG and power. The broader indices too were reeling under pressure, while the market breadth on the BSE was negative; there were 420 shares on the gaining side against 1,935 shares on the losing side while 106 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 23494.49, down by 264.41 points or 1.11% after trading in a range of 23475.87 and 23758.46. There were 8 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.32%, while Small cap index down by 2.04%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal down by 1.96%, FMCG down by 1.89%, Power down by 1.82%, Realty down by 1.79%, Oil & Gas down by 1.74%, while Telecom up by 0.86% remained the lone gainer on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 1.86%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.55%, Tata Motors up by 1.23%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.05% and Cipla up by 1.03%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 3.48%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.93%, ITC down by 2.66%, BHEL down by 2.62% and Maruti Suzuki down by 2.49% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to remove the biggest impediment of the country, Road Transport Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari has said that the government is to offer affordable houses below Rs 5 lakh at a time when only one per cent of India's population can afford a house above Rs 10 lakh. He said apart from focus on building smart cities, providing affordable houses to the poorest of the poor also tops the agenda of the government.

The Minister further said that the government will provide construction cost Rs 450 square feet for house in Rs 5 lakh. Besides, a subsidy of Rs 1.5 lakh would be given on the houses and after that the cost of the house will be Rs 3.5 lakh and loan will be available for 7 to 7.5 per cent interest rate. Further, the government are installing solar system in that besides furniture including bed made of fly ash.

Highlighting one of the ventures, Gadkari said an experiment has been done in Nagpur to construct a house on steel structure using 70 per cent fly ash, which will be inaugurated on February 20. Moreover, speaking about the smart cities project, he said the government will not only make smart cities but is also committed to developing the existing cities as per the modern-day requirements. Ten out of 12 major ports will have smart cities.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7138.55, down by 77.15 points or 1.07% after trading in a range of 7126.55 and 7208.65. There were 12 stocks advancing against 38 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bank of Baroda up by 2.22%, Idea Cellular up by 2.05%, SBI up by 2.01%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.73% and Tata Motors up by 1.13%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 4.54%, ONGC down by 3.19%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.76%, ITC down by 2.69% and BHEL down by 2.66% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng tumbled 802.5 points or 4.16% to 18,485.67, KOSPI Index declined 56.25 points or 2.93% to 1,861.54 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 4.11 points or 0.25% to 1,640.30. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was up by 41.12 points or 0.87% to 4,773.60.